Women win jobs stakes

Women have a lower unemployment rate than men and stronger growth in participation. The jobless rate for women is 5.3 per cent; it is 5.6 per cent for men.

Since January 2000, the female participation rate has surged from 54.1 per cent to 58.9 per cent. Experts say this is more than a structural shift of more women joining the workforce.

“The weakness in male participation is probably a function of weakness in sectors like construction and manufacturing," said Royal Bank of Canada senior economist Su-Lin Ong.

She said the rise in participation for women was partly due to growth in industries such as healthcare and education. “But, generally, female participation has been rising for several decades."

Last month, the number of employed men fell by about 6000 while the number of women employed grew by about 20,000. But CFMEU national secretary
Dave Noonan
said the data did not tell the full story. “There would also be a lot of situations where people are working less than a full week and they won’t show up as unemployed," he said.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch chief economist
Saul Eslake
said lacklustre male employment was not surprising when construction and manufacturing were struggling. “It’s overwhelmingly blokes’ work," he said. “The areas of the economy that have shown the most strength in employment have been healthcare, mining and scientific and technical services."